Tokyo Mew Mew: La Dolce Vita
by Makemegray
Summary: The sequel to Tokyo Mew Mew A La Fresco. As some problems with the Dark Lords are resolved even more arrive. Especially in the form of the newest Mew mew. With Zakuro temporarily inactive, will this new Mew serve as her replacement or something even worse
1. Beautiful Alone

**Tokyo Mew Mew La Dolce Vita; Chapter One**

"Keep your pointy projectiles away from me!"

"But Zakuro-san, how else do you expect me to get a sample? You snap at me everytime I use a needle!"

"And it's no wonder! You keep poking me with them! I've got track marks, Keiichiro! the gossip columns think I'm a drug addict! And what the hell do you need a sample for this time?!" Keiichiro pouted at Zakuro yelled at him.

"I just wanted to see if your DNA is made up of more chaos than the average person, being that you are the conduit of-"

"Wait, stop." Zakuro interrupted" I have enough of a headache as it is trying to hold in my powers, like you told me to. Will a piece of hair suffice to examine my DNA?"

"...tabun..." Keiichiro nodded, watching greedily as Zakuro plucked out a few strands of purple and folded them into a napkin, handing them over to her boss, who scurried off with to his lab, squeeing with glee.

Zakuro sighed and shifted around in her chair restlessly.

"Ever since the revelation that she could potentially be the instrument through which the world was destroyed, she'd been forbidden from using all but the most basic of her powers, and discouraged from even doing that much. The restriction was to last until a way could be devised to sever her link with the Lord of Nightmares.

She wasn't even allowed to transform into Mew Zakuro anymore, which of course meant that she had to stay behind when the other Mews went to fight the monsters-of -the week that the dark lords were tossing out lately.

And just when things were starting to get more interesting than possessed animals.

These Mazoku could think for themselves and were far more difficult opponants than Kirema Anima. They strategized and actually tried to win against their enemies.

She'd only had the opportunity to fight one when Ryou and Nana had stopped her on her way home to collapse into her waiting bed and her fiance, to inform her that were attacks were tainted by chaos and therefore could not be used anymore. In short, she was on indefinate leave until the problem was solved.

So here she was, sitting in a booth at the cafe, dodging Keiichiro's experiments, alone in the main dining room while the other Mews fought the most recent mazoku.

She was going stir crazy and she spared an extra-searing glare at one of the culprits as he walked into the room.

"I really am sorry Zakuro-kun, but theres nothing that can be done about it yet. Until we figure something out you'll just have to be patient."

"I though you two were supposed to be geniuses? Isn't three months enough?" Ryou winced at the slight but refrained from commenting.

"Well, like we explained earlier, it's far more complicated than it sounds. It's taking alot of research and experimentation to stablize something that by it's very nature can't be stabilized. We're fighting against the force that creates life and destroys it, we're-"

"Okay, already. Stop talking to me and go figure it out."

"Uh-hai..." Ryou muttered, cowed, and followed her instructions, disappearing into the basement.

Zakuro was well aware that she was being even more of a bitch than usual, but sitting there, doing absolutely nothing while everyone in the world had something else to do was just plain frustrating! And try as she might not to complain, the burgeoning psychic abilities of her fellow mews made that impossible.

Ichigo could tell when she was frustrated or annoyed that they were going on another mission without her and pleaded with her before and after not to be upset with the team. She would try and compromise with Zakuro to stave off her annoyance-Ichigo would work one of Zakuro's shifts in the cafe for every mission that they went on without her. While the model would have normally jumped at the offer, she turned it down flatly in this case. She'd be even more bored if she didn't even have the cafe to occupy her time.

Berri would panic at visions she had of Zakuro getting so upset that she unleashed L-sama and destroyed the world. She would try and placate her canine teammate with bribes of extra-pastries weeks before Zakuro was even remotely mad.

Lettuce, who power allowed her to see events in the past by touching inanimate objects that had witnessed the event, would see any of Zakuro's random outbursts of temper and would lecture about it. If she happened to touch the teacup Zakuro was currently drinking out of, she was see the earlier snipes at Ryou and go on an hour long rant about how it wasn't his fault and how he couldn't help it. He had forbidden her from using her power for her own good.

So far, Pudding and Ringo had yet to develop any powers of the mental variety to her knowledge and she was infinitely glad they hadn't. At least they could hold that over her.

If anything they seemed more scatter-brained than usual. Seeming to be lost in their own little world and would start guiltily when anyone talked to them.

_Well,_ Zakuro mused, _Considering how everyone else got those powers to awaken, it's no wonder theirs haven't yet. They're the only ones not in a relationship. _

It had been revealed by Keiichiro, in a moment where he was so distracted by his experiments that he let the secret slip, that the other four girls that had gained psychic powers had done so in the exact same manner that Zakuro had: During an...Intimate moment with their significant other. She had the comfort of at least knowing that the other girls had been embarrassed when the secret of their less-than-pure status had been revealed.

And while all of those this annoyed her, she was ready and willing to let those things go and didn't hold it against her teammates.

Try as she might, however, there was one thing that she just could seem to forgive or forget.

She bit back a snarl and flare of power in her fist as said thing walked in the door to the cafe, arm around the shoulder of a certain blue-haired ex-heiress.

Zakuro was only slightly mollified by the fact that Mint had the decency to pale slightly and push the other girl away upon catching sight of the only occupant in the dining room.

"Have fun?" the wolf-girl asked to the general crowd of teen aged girls filing into the cafe.

"Not really," Ichigo answered, rubbing her shoulder and wincing. " This one really threw us around. I got slammed into a dumpster a few times. We would have been in alot worse shape than sore muscles if Hime-chan hadn't been there."

And there it was. the thing that Zakuro just couldn't seem to forgive the situation she was currently in for. Perched on the ledge of a high window, talking excitedly down to Berri who was attempting to join her.

Azumi Hime, the eighth and hopefully final member of Tokyo Mew Mew.

She was infused with the genes of a black cat and because the animal wasn't a Red Data animal like the rest of the mews, her uniform had drastic difference in it than her teammates, as did her attacks.

She had actually been the first one to be infused with animal DNA. Keiichiro and Ryou had admitted, under pressure, that they had tested the Mew Project once before the time when the majority of the girls had been hit by it. They hadn't intended for anyone to be caught under it's influence, but in the process of the testing an elementary school girl's DNA had been altered. Convinced that the effects wouldn't be permanent they did nothing about it and the girl went on her merry way.

They'd heard from Hime's point of view, however, that almost as soon as she had started High School, her powers as Mew Hime had surfaced, try as she might to keep them concealed. She'd heard about Tokyo Mew Mew where she was living in the United States and had done everything she could to convince her parents to move back to Tokyo so she could be involved.

In a deus ex machina of immense proportions, just as the group had been set upon the task of locating the Mew who would most defiantly house the soul of Cepheid, the god from an alien dimension that would help them defeat their current enemies, Hime had shown up on the doorstep of the cafe and had demonstrated her power enough to convince even the skeptical Ryou who had refused to believe that his fluke could have produced an eighth girl who he was now responsible for.

"Zakuro-onee-sama, you should have seen this one!" Hime stated exitedly, jumping down from the ledge across the room and somehow landing directly in front of Zakuro's booth. She had a lot more control over her the traits allowed to her by her genetics than most of the other girls, as well, given that she had had more time to get used to them. "It was all slimy and gooey! I had to push Mint-chan out of the way of a big glob of snot-like stuff or she would have had it all over the place!"

And there was that feeling again. The one that Zakuro had everytime she thought about the younger girl.

Like she was being replaced.

Mint had called it Irrational Paranoid Jealousy when it had first come up but Zakuro didn't quite see it that way.

Hime was, in Zakuro's personal opinion, something of an upgraded model of herself.

She had classical, cool looks, a graceful baring-all of the things that people normally appreciated Zakuro for-and none of the personality problems of the original.

Hime could open up to anyone about anything without a second thought, She was never afraid to speak her mind but somehow managed to do so without offending people. Something Zakuro had been practicing for nigh on five years at this point and still couldn't always quite manage it.

She was the perfect person to fit in with this crowd of sweet and considerate girls and everytime Hime was around, Zakuro couldn't help but feel more than slightly out of place.

"Oh, really?" Zakuro replied, slowly, leaning on her fist and grinning at the other girl, her elongated canines showing clearly. "Well then thank L-sama you were there, Hime-chan."

Ichigo and Mint both slanted warning glances at the oldest member of the team. Ichigo sensing the predatory and slightly sadistic way the statement had been uttered and Mint recognizing the tone of voice.

They seemed to be the only ones capable of telling whether Zakuro was being sincere or not these days, the other girls just writing off her tones and expressions as something affected by the being she was linked to. As if an immensely powerful chaos goddess had nothing better than to mess with the personality of someone she would gladly destroy.

"Not really, All I did was stand on the sidelines this time, really. Ichigo-onee-sama thought it was better for me to save my energy in case someone got hurt."

_Even when she's being useless they do better with her there,_ Zakuro reflected bitterly.

Hime had recently discovered her own psychic powers (but wasn't telling anyone how she had done that) and hers turned out to be of the healing variety. She used her own energy to speed up the bodies natural healing processes and was therefore able to heal most medium sized wounds. While Zakuro was fully willing to admit that it was it was a useful power, it didn't make her feelings regarding Hime any more kind.

"I'm glad to see you're all back alright. " Keiichiro said, as he and Ryou came up from the basement, both steering clear away from Zakuro lest she blow up at them again. "I trust there were no problems?"

"Not really. Other than the mazoku being gross and having really strong arms and throwing us from place to place." Pudding commented, grimacing as she attempted got a few of the cafe's more expensive plate out and began spinning them on sticks.

"Oh, well..." Keiichiro began, at a loss, either from the description or from Pudding's act "That's...good?"

"Sounds like you had fun...of sorts..." Ryou commented, folding his arms superiorly. "I hope you enjoyed it while you could, things are going to get alot more difficult from here on in. Especially for you, Zakuro-kun." he said, turning to said girl, glaring slightly.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that Nana may have found a way to fix your little problem. Though she's fairly certain that you won't like it at all."

Zakuro raised an eyebrow and met Ryou's slightly vindictive glare head on with a skeptical one of her own, ignoring the puzzled inquiries of the other girls.

"Oh, really? Well anything has to be better than just sitting here doing nothing but torturing you guys. Tell her I'm in."

She did her best to ignore the sadistic chuckle that came from Ryou as he nodded in acquiescence and went back down to the lab.

Zakuro wondered briefly if she was right after all. Anything just _had_ to be better than this didn't it? She sincerely hoped so...

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, here it is. The first chapter of Tokyo Mew Mew a La Fresco's sequel, Tokyo Mew Mew La Dolce Vita, which means the Sweet Life. Pretty apt given the cafe I think.  
Anyway, a few notes. First, I made considerable changes to the cannon storyline in the first fic and in this one that I'm only just realizing. First of which being that Ringo's personality is almost the exact same as Berri and Ichigo's which I had to change because there was just too much of that sickening sweetness. Also, cannon Ringo's genes aren't actually spliced with the Humbolt Penguin. She just has a Mew aqua that allows her to transform into a mew. I changed this in mine because it just didn't make sense not to given how I had her come into the story. Also, Azumi Hime is an actual character created by Ikumi Mia. She stars in the short story that Tokyo Mew Mew was based off of, Tokyo Black Cat Girl. Given the problem of needing to find a final girl, I though that Hime fit perfectly, so I had to do some extensive fabrication of her story in order for it to fit. She's also supposed to have a personality similar to the Double Berry's but I couldn't let that slip. It's similar but is also like Zakuro's as you'll see in the next chapter. 

I think that's all I have to say for this chapter. Oh, I also realized, when re-reading a La Mode that Tasuku is supposed to work in the cafe as well but since I forgot that in the beginning, I don't think it make much sense to add it after that fact when I'm already 18 chapters into the storyline.

Beautiful Alone is an image song from Weiss Kruse


	2. Sleepless Beauty

**_Tokyo Mew Mew:_ La** **Dolce Vita**: **Chapter Two:** Sleepless Beauty

Hime had a pretty good idea where the malicious and murderous feeling she got every time all of the Mews were assembled was coming from.

She had assumed, originally and quite logically, that it had come from the girl that had been made to sit on the sidelines for the past few months because she was ill or something.

Yet Fujiwara Zakuro seemed to take no undue notice of her and everyone else on the team said she was actually fairly normally. A little more petulant than usual because she could do any actual fighting at the moment, but otherwise pretty normal.

She didn't miss the glances that Ichigo and Minto kept shooting the oldest mew, however, no matter what they told Hime on the surface. One of her greatest talents was the ability to read people after all. She noticed those looks that only the pink and blue mews had as an empath and Zakuro's fiancee respectively. They were the only ones able to accurately deduce her moods and from that, Hime had learned to as well.

So when they walked into the cafe that evening and she was able to see the less than pleased features of the wolf-mew through the cafe window, she snuck a companionable arm around Minto's shoulders just as they were got through the door.

She wasn't disappointed with the reaction, either, as Zakuro threatened to turn several shades of red the longer that arm was draped over the heiress's slim frame.

She wisely retracted her arm, however, before it could get ripped off and went to mess with a few of the cafe's other employees.

She'd heard about all of the ups and downs in Zakuro and Minto's relationship one night from Ringo when she'd been a little post-coitally chatty and Purin had been too exhausted to stop her.

Hime had listened with interest and had been forming a plan in her mind to seduce the younger of the couple the very next day, just to test out her theory about the oldest mews animosity.

Just as she'd been about to enter the first stage in her plan into action when she'd been summoned into the stock room for inventory duty with Ichigo.

She didn't complain, though, good employee that she was...and took the clipboard that Keiichiro handed her with a mind to finalize some of the sketchier areas in her plan before enacting it.

Somewhere between the maraschino cherries and the dried apricots, however, Ichigo had gotten fed up and set her own clipboard down on a can of chocolate sauce with a thump and turned to Hime, frowning slightly.

"What exactly do you think you're playing at, Hime-chan?" The younger girl blinked innocently as she reacted to Ichigo's obvious irritation.

"W-What are you talking about Ichigo-senpai?" The frown deepened and Ichigo curled her lips slightly, as if she was in mid-hiss.

"...Because you're a fellow mew and my comrade in arms I'm obligated to fight with you and to protect you. Minto, Zakuro, Retatsu, Purin, Berri and Ringo are another story. They're like sisters to me and there nothing that I won't do to protect them, even if it meant giving my life for one of theirs. That being said, I feel that I should warn you...If you do anything that endangers the happiness that any of them have finally found I won't even bother to step in when one of them tries to murder you. You've been antagonizing Zakuro for a while and she's the last one of us that you want to interfere with. There's a reason that she's the only one with DNA from a predatory animal. It's because she won't hesitate to use it. She'll destroy you and no one will do anything about it...Well...I take that back...I may get in a few kicks."

"...Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'd rather not have Zakuro's hands get dirty on someone like you. You should keep in mind that you're still an outsider and that the only reason you're still around and the only reason why she hasn't really snapped is because you house Ceipheid's soul. I'm pretty sure that Nana-san could find a way to contain if you were to die, however, so don't think that you're any more valuable to this operation than a handy medic. You keep pushing and I won't be there to restrain her."

"Ichigo-senpai..." Ichigo waved a dismissive hand and smiled, as if she hadn't just gone totally out of character and threatened Hime's life.

"Just something for you to keep in mind, Hime-chan!" She picked up her clipboard and went back to the inventory, signaling an end to the conversation.

While she would never admit it, even under the face of extreme torture, Hime had seriously been ready to shit her pants at the look those crimson eyes had given her. She'd rarely seen so much bloodlust from even the Mazoku and even they weren't doing anything personally.

It had been over a month ago and while Hime had took that fear to heart and had derailed her master plan (for now), she just couldn't help wanting to tease them a bit more.

Zakuro's reactions just got more colorful every time!!

A few days ago, Hime had attempted to feed Minto a bite of some new cake product that Keiichiro was thinking about stocking and had had everyone try. Zakuro had actually growled and snarled at her, fangs and all!

Then yesterday, after a particularly exhausting battle, Minto had plopped herself down next to her fiancee in the models favorite booth in the cafe. When Hime had attempted to join them-one the same side of the booth, mind you, in a manner that would have caused her to be squashed quite neatly into Minto's side, Zakuro had actually snapped at her! It was only thanks to her cat reflexes that she had been able to jump away before she'd had a chunk bitten out of her arm!

The black cat Mew had laughed for hours after the fact and devoted a few more quality hours to figuring out new ways to piss off Zakuro once she had gotten home.

Ways which would not fully invoke the increasingly wolf-like girl's wrath.

_Or Ichigo's for that matter_, she had amended with a chill going down her spine.

And as their leader had apparently tipped off Retatsu and Berri to Hime's machinations, they were both throwing her the same looks that Ichigo did: Concerned and infuriated at the same time.

The only ones who didn't suspect anything were Minto, who didn't think anything of Zakuro's apparent jealousy, and Purin and Ringo who were both so far under Hime's spell that they could have witnessed her committing murder and would have still proclaimed her innocent.

She usually didn't go for females or threesomes but Hime had come to admit that in the past few months it was really working to her advantage.

So while Ichigo hissed, Retatsu glared, Berri scowled and Zakuro snarled, Hime was perfectly content in this new situation that she had found herself in.

She was used to being the enemy after all.

Pretty girls usually were in her opinion.

* * *

Author's notes:...eto...I don't really know what to say...I originally didn't intend to make Hime such a bitch but...It just kinda happened...Gomen ne, but I thought that I had enough of characters who were perpetually optimistic. Hime is supposed to be similar to Ichigo in personality and by rote similar to Berri and Ringo as well and I just can't have four characters with the same personality. I can't do it. So Hime is the bitch. She'll turn around eventually and will stop fucking with people and she'll probably end up with Keiichiro since he's the only cannon guy left, but for some reason she just needs to be evil right now. 

I'm still planning on sticking to the couples I set up in the first chapter of A La Fresco but in La Dolce Vita they're all going to get shaken up a little by Hime and possibly by others. This one will focus more on the relationships of the other mews besides Zakuro and Minto I think but as of right now, they're still the main pairing, with the odd PurinxRingo pairing coming in second.

If that idea is just too weird for people just let me know and I'll find some way to weasel out of it.

Updates may slow down a little since I'm back in school and the sophomore year for my university's creative writing major is supposed to be the hardest but I'll try to keep up at least a chapter a week in at least one of my stories, even if they relatively short.

Also, yes, I realize that Ichigo is tremendously out of character in this chapter but I did it on purpose. As with the last part in the story, the girl's animal genes are started to affect them more and Ichigo is starting to get more territorial as she feels that her 'pack' is being threatened by this new cat. The next chapter will be from Ichigo's point of view so it will explain further that reasons for her hostility towards Hime.

Ja mata!


	3. Stone Roses

_**Tokyo Mew Mew: La Dolce Vita:**Chapter Three:_ Stone Roses

"You're like a mother hen protecting her eggs."

"Eh-Nani? What are you talking about?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes. You've been staring at Zakuro and the others the whole time." Ichigo blinked and looking up at Masaya, lifting a hand to scratch behind her ear.

"Gomen ne, I'm just a little worried is all. Hime-chan is..."

"A threat?"

"Not really, More like...A challenge. She keeps poking at Zakuro-kun. I'm pretty sure she's going to get seriously injured very soon. Zakuro-kun and Minto-chan went through a lot to be together like this and she's sticking herself in the middle purposely. You know she asked Minto-chan out on a date yesterday? I don't think it's necessarily healthy for people to turn the color red that Zakuro-kun did. It's a testament to her will power that she didn't gut Hime-chan right there."

"...Interfering with her territory, is she?" Ichigo sighed and stirred her untouched milkshake.

She was supposed to be enjoying her lunch break with Masaya and instead the only thing she could do was worry about her friends.

"I'm not being a very good girlfriend at the moment, am I?"

"On the contrary. One of the things I've always loved most about you is how much you take care of your friends."

"...Arigatou, Masaya..."

"Don't worry about it. Just tell me that you made it clear to her what your feelings on the matter were?"

"...I threatened to watch if Zakuro-kun tried to kill her."

"Ah, so ka...If it were me I probably would have held Zakuro-kun back and done the killing myself..." This, mumbled into the palm of his hand, made Ichigo look up with a start to follow Masaya's line of vision and back to his eyes and the distinctly Deep Blue-like glare in their depths.

"...Masaya..." The gaze shifted to her and Ichigo barely contained a fearful shiver.

"...Betsu ni. Enjoy your milkshake, koishii." Ichigo couldn't help but be rooted to her half of the booth as Masaya left, dropping money on the table for Ichigo's melting confection.

That look...

She'd seen it before, of course, when they were fighting Deep Blue, but there was something more to it. Something else it reminded her of.

It was cold, calculating and more than a little bit predatory.

A crash somewhere behind her suddenly brought the memory right back.

It was something very similar to the look that Zakuro had when Hime got just a little too close to Minto.

Ichigo had always attributed that look to something that resulted from the wolf that was part of Zakuro. Something that was just because she had animal genes.

But for Masaya to have had a look just as well...

She couldn't think of an appropriate word for it anymore.

Masaya had been imaging, she assumed, what he would have done if she was the one that Hime was flirting with.

He would have no problem, Ichigo was certain, ending the life of someone who came between them as a serious threat.

Somehow, faced with that revelation, Ichigo was suddenly worried that she may not have emphasized to Hime enough just how serious Zakuro was about **never** letting go of Minto-chan again. She was concerned that maybe she hadn't made it clear enough that Zakuro, who was indeed fused with the most predatory of the red data animals, was deadly serious about guarding her territory.

She was deathly afraid that she hadn't made it clear that Zakuro, being as frustrated as she was not being to fight lately, would jump at the chance to turn her frustrations on someone who could run away, even if they were supposed to be a comrade, and especially if they kept asking her fiancee out right in front of her.

The sharp sound of flesh impacting flesh soundly that followed the crash told her that she didn't have to worry.

She went back to her almost fully melted milkshake with a chuckle as she realized that she shouldn't have bothered worrying.

For all that Zakuro was passionate about her feelings for Minto and would go to any lengths to ensure that nothing violated their relationship, Ichigo had, she supposed, momentarily counted Minto out.

Minto was the person who had held a torch for, relentlessly pursued, and defied her family for Zakuro.

Politeness in an awkward situation was one thing, she was raised to be diplomatic, but there were times when even a billion-yen heiress gave into the animal that her genes had been fused with.

Judging from the yelling going on behind her, Ichigo realized that she probably wouldn't be the one watching on the sidelines if Hime overstepped her boundaries one time too many. It would probably be Minto, who would stand there while Zakuro exacted her revenge then wipe the blood from her lover's hands with no regrets. Safe in the knowledge that she and Zakuro and Hime were, in essence, animals and the latter had violated a code of the animal kingdom and must, inevitably, pay.

She continued to chew meditatively on her straw until Retatsu plopped into the seat across from her with a put upon sigh.

"...Is it because I'm not really a predatory creature that I find this whole this exasperating?" Ichigo turned to the green-haired girl with a start. " The only ones dense enough not to feel this are Purin and Ringo and we won't even get started on those two." She sighed and swiped the half-full cup out of Ichigo's hands, investigating it's contents before handing it back to it's owner. "In all honesty, I'd rather not get involved. We should just let them work it out. Minto-chan seems to be doing fine handling the situation herself."

"...Maybe you're right."

-space because ff.n has weird formatting issues-

Contrary to popular belief, Aizawa Minto was not dense. Nor was she deaf, dumb or blind either. She was fully aware of the passes that Hime had been making toward her for the past months that she had been apart of the group.

She wasn't barbaric either, for that matter.

She wasn't going to be reduced to threats and growls like her fiancee currently was. She preferred to be far more passive in situations like this. It was far less bloody in the long run...

Though, the fact that the girl currently standing in from of her, hand to her cheek in surprise, had had the gall to blatantly deny Zakuro's claim on Minto, was something that said avian-girl would not tolerate.

Satisfied that she had gotten her point across, she turned from Hime to Ryou who flinched just a little.

"We're closing early, aren't we?" They weren't, but the blond didn't have the courage to disagree and nodded slowly.

"Good." Without further ado, she untied her apron and left it on one of the tables before striding out of the cafe, Zakuro trailing behind her, unsure whether to be bewildered or bemused.

"Was the slapping necessary?" The taller girl ventured a few minutes later, not at all comforted by the sharp look slanted toward her.

"...It was the only way she would get the point. She still probably hasn't learned her lesson, though. She'll try again tomorrow." She rolled her eyes at the growling the statement induced. "You threaten her. It's pretty common knowledge that you're the most formidable one of us. Ichigo-chan may be powerful, but she isn't nearly as in sync with her animal side as you. It makes you a more deadly opponent because you operate, for the most part, on a much more primal level than the rest of us. The animal in Hime recognizes that and it aggravates her so she has to contest it. She isn't serious about me though, I'm just the most convenient way to challenge you."

"...That's ridiculous."

"Well, no one ever said it was particularly smart for her to designate you as her rival, but she has. Theres nothing you can really do about it. We need her."

"...Nana-san had better figure out to extract Ceipheid's soul from her then. Otherwise I might be forced to take drastic measures."

Minto snuck a glance at the violet-haired girl beside her, eyes focused somewhere on the horizon, lips pulled back in a snarl that had deterred any paparazzi from approaching.

She would never tell the other this, for fear of fostering the behavior, but she was secretly overjoyed that her lover had this violent a reaction about a pretty grudge. It wasn't the fact that Hime was challenging her that pushed Zakuro's buttons, she probably wouldn't even acknowledge it in most circumstances. It was the fact that Minto had been set as the terms over the which the grudge would be exacted.

It gave Minto a thrill every time she saw Zakuro just barely restraining herself from attacking after every way-too-intimate touch. Every way-too-suggestive double intendandre.

She supposed that being exited by that kind of territorial behavior made her animistic but well, but it also reaffirmed the feelings that Zakuro had her every time it happened. Minto rationalized that she couldn't really be held account for it when it was put that way.

"Oi..." She was snapped out of her amused reverie by the growling statement made by her lover. Minto resisted the urge to comment on her decreasing level of ladylike behavior. Despite the fact that her modeling career was more lucrative than ever.

"Hai? Something the matter?" Zakuro stopped in her tracks, her gaze still focused on something not quite in Minto's immediate range of vision.

She stood of the tips of her toes to try and get a glimpse into Zakuro's higher sight line but failed.

"What are you doing?"

"I was trying to see...Never mind, what's the matter, why'd you stop?"

"...Theres something that has been on my mind for a while now..." Zakuro narrowed her eyes and proceeded to pull Minto by the wrist onto the side street that led to their apartment building.

(And of course, it gave Minto a thrill every time she thought of it as such. Upon reflection of this fact, Minto was also quite disgusted by how sappy she had become recently and vowed to cut it out.)

"It's been months since Azumi came and we haven't heard a word from Nana-san since either. At least not in terms of, you know, defeating the Ma-ou. Doesn't that seem weird to you? At first she was very serious about doing so and was throwing all of her energy into trying to find a way to harness the various deities that we happen to be re-incarnations of or gateways to without effecting us very much. Now, when ever we see her, she gives Ryou-kun and Keiichiro-san a Look and goes back to being random and generally irritating. I wonder if theres something that they're not telling us..."

Minto didn't doubt it in the least. There always seemed to be something going on behind those closed steel doors of the War Room everytime one of the two managers disappeared behind it for hours on end.

Retatsu, who could arguably be considered the closest one to the younger (older?!) of the two, being that they had been dating for years, wasn't even privy to Ryou's opinions on the matter any longer. Whenever she brought up the subject of the large-scale war that they happened to be in the middle of, Ryou would very neatly side-step the conversation with claims that he needed to help Keiichiro go over the cafe's accounts for the month. Even the infinitely patient Retatsu was starting to get highly fed up with the secrecy act.

But, as Zakuro, oddly enough, tended to be somewhat of a conspiracy theorist, Minto couldn't bring herself to voice that she felt similar worries and instead reached up and patted her troubled fiancee on the shoulder, mindless of the growl it received.

"It's probably nothing. I'm sure they'll tell us if something important happens. For now, just concentrate on trying not to gut Hime-chan and everything will be alright, ne?"

"..."

Taking the silence and increasingly faint growls as acquiescence, Minto happily threaded her fingers through Zakuro's and pushed any qualms she felt about lying to placate her significant other to the back of her mind.

* * *

Author's Notes:...Maa...I was in sort of a hurry to get this one out as it felt it was due. I'm trying to do at least a chapter a week of one of my serial fics. I don't particularly like all of this chapter but I felt that there was some input from Ichigo, Retatsu and Minto due that I couldn't get out in the fist two chapters that focused on Zakuro and Hime. the next chapter will likely be introductory thoughts and such from Berri, Purin and Ringo, followed by one from Ryou, Keiichiro and Nana and THEN things will likely get rolling. Sorry for the slow pace, but things have been going on during the time skip and I thought that I should introduce each character again after that as somethings have changed with them. I may consolidate the next two chapters but who knows. 

Also, in case the reader is interested, I am still working on the Prequel to my TMM arc, Snow Kiss, which gives the outline of basically how the two canon-ish couples of the series got together. I originally intended it to be ZakuroxMinto but I feel that RetatsuxRyou needs some explanation as well. What I'm probably going to do is have alternating chapters focus on each couple, so since the first chapter is ZXM, the next chapter will be RXR and then the third will be ZXM and so forth until I catch up to where I started in A La Fresco.

**Translation Notes:**

So ka...: Something like 'I see'

Betsu ni: Something like 'Nothing'

Koishii: Term of endearment, Something like 'Dear' , 'Beloved' or 'Darling'


End file.
